Fastening element



y 1954 M. H. BASEL EEAL- 2,684,514

FASTENING ELEMENT Original Filed April 9, I948 FIG.5

ATTORNE Patented July 27, 1954 FASTENING ELEMENT Monica H. Basel andKatherine Henkl MacKay, New York, N. Y.

Original application April 9, 1948, Serial No. 20,137. Divided and thisapplication July 13, 1951, Serial No. 236,572

2 Claims.

This invention relates to closures and more particularly to a means formounting interengaging fastening elements, such as slide fasteners onfabric for the purpose of forming a closure.

Fasteners of these types are now being used to a great extent ongarments. The two fastening elements are mounted on tapes which must besewed to the edges of the fabric when the device is to be used on agarment as a closure element. While the use of such fastening elementsis simpler than the use of buttons and button holes, a certain amount ofskill is required in sewing the tapes to the two sides or edges of aclosure of a portion of a garment. If the tapes are not properly sewedto bring the interengaging fastening elements in proper alignment witheach other when the slide is moved over them, the fastener either doesnot function properly or bulging of the garment takes place in such away as to procluce an unsightly effect.

In carrying out the present invention, we further simplify the use ofslide fasteners or other similar devices by mounting the interengagingelements on tapes, one longitudinal edge portion of which is providedwith adhesive on both faces while the other longitudinal edge portion isprovided with adhesive on only one face, with the adhesive being of thetype which may be secured to the fabric by heat or pressure or othersuit able means. This greatly simplifies the attachment of suchfastening elements to garments. Employing adhesives which may beactivated by presence of heat or pressure or heat and pressure, eachtape may be placed with its longitudinal edge portion which has adhesiveon both faces within a fold of the fabric at one side of an opening andthe tape then reversely folded about the free edge of the folded fabricto bring the other longitudinal edge portion thereof in overlyingrelationship to the folded fabric with its adhesive face in contacttherewith, and with the closure elements at the free edge of thereversely-folded portion of the tape. With the tapes in such position,they may be secured to the garment at the sides of the opening thereinby an ironing operation, and when so secured, the longitudinal edgeportions which lie within the folds of the fabric at the sides of theopening will be firmly secured, through their adhesive coatings, both tothe main portion of the fabric and the folded-over portion; while thereversely-folded longitudinal edge portion will be firmly secured to theouter face of the folded-over portion of the fabric. sures properpositioning of the fastening element without any resultant wrinkling ofthe fabric and This as therefore produces a closure having a sightlyappearance. It also reduces the labor involved, and thus effects asavings in cost.

In the accompanying drawing we have shown one embodiment of theinvention. In this showmg:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a garment showing another form ofthisinvention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse, sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the tapes.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral I represents twoportions of a garment adjacent a seam where the slide fastener is to beplaced. As shown in Fig. 2, the edges of these two portions are turnedback as at 3. Normally the edges 3 are sewed to the body portions l and2 but in carrying out our invention, these two edges are secured to thebody portions by use of a strip of tape of a suitable material having asuitable adhesive applied to its surfaces. We employ an adhesive thatmay be activated by heat or pressure, or by heat and pressure, such asthe product known as Bondex, manufactured by Johnson and Johnson, orother similar products now on the market.

The slide fastener, per se, is of conventional construction and forms nopart of the invention, except in the combination claimed. As shown, itconsists of interengaging elements 5 and 6 mounted on opposite sides ofthe opening and adapted to be opened and closed by a slide 1.

The slide fastener elements 5 and 6 are secured to the edges of tapesl2. At suitable intervals, the tapes [2 are connected by sections l3 totapes [4. These parts are, of course, made by a suitable cuttingoperation from a single piece of ma terial and the distance between thetransverse connecting members I 3 may be varied depending upon thelength of the slide fastener and the opening to be closed by it. Theportions 14 of the supporting tape are provided with the adhesive whichmay be activated by heat or pressure or both on both sides and theportions l2 are provided with such adhesive on the one side, which istoward the fabric when the slide fastener is assembled. As shown, theslide fastener is assembled by folding the transverse portions l3 toplace the tapes [4 under the folded edges 3 and to arrange the tapesections l2 adjacent the meeting edges of the two sections of thegarment to dispose the interengaging elements in the proper position toclose the opening when the slide 1 is moved in the proper direction. Theadhesive is then activated by heat or pressure or both to secure thetape sections M in the fold at the edge and to secure the tape sectionsI2 to the fabric.

Since the longitudinal edge portions 14 are firmly secured to both themain portion of the fabric and to the inner side of the folded-overportions 3, and the reversely-folded longitudinal edge portions 12 ofthe tape are firmly secured to the outer side of the folds 3, and sincethe free edges of the revcrsely-folded edge portions 12 carrying theclosure elements are so positioned with respect to the edges of thefabric at the respective fold lines at opposite sides of the openingthat such edges substantially meet when the closure elements are inclosing relationship, any strain to which the fabric is subjected in adirection normal to the opening will not result in the edges of thefabric at the line of the opening being pulled apart to expose theclosure elements or the adjacent portions of the tape, and the garmentalways will maintain a sightly appearance at the opening with the freeedges of the fabric meeting along the line of the opening.

By having the longitudinal edge portions l2 and i3 disconnected for asubstantial portion of their length, and connected only by the bridgingstrips 53, greater flexibility is imparted to the garment of the fabricat those portions opposite the line along which the tapes are folded.This also helps in having the garment present a more sightly appearancein the area adjacent the opening.

This application is a division of our copending application FasteningElement, Serial No. 20,137, filed April 9, 1948, now abandoned,

We claim:

1. In a garment, a closure for adjacent fabric edges forming an openingin the garment which comprises portions of the fabric of the garment atopposite edges of the opening which are reversely folded and overlie themain fabric at the same side adjacent opposite sides of the opening, apair of tapes, one at each of opposite sides of the opening, onelongitudinal edge portion of each tape being between the folded-overportion of the fabric at its side of the opening and the main garmentfabric and adhesively secured at its opposite faces, respectively, tothe folded-over portion and the main portion of the garment fabric, thetapes being reversely folded over the respective free edges of thefolded-over portions of the fabric and the reversely-folded portions ofthe tapes being adhesively secured to the outer sides of the respectivefolded-over portions of the fabric, the faces of the reversely-foldedportions of the tapes remote from the respective folded-over portion ofthe fabric being non-adhesive, and closure elements carried by the freeedges of the respective reversely-folded portions of the tapes, theedges of the fabric at the respective fold lines at opposite sides ofthe opening overlying the closure elements and substantially meetingwhen said closure elements are in closing relationship.

2. In a garment closure, as defined in claim 1, the improvement in whichthe reversely-folded portions of the tapes are disconnected from theportions which are adhesively secured between the main and folded-overportions of the garment fabric for a substantial portion of the lengthof the tapes and are connected at other portions by bridging strips.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,731,111 Romer Oct. 8, 1929 2,368,911 Andler Feb. 6, 19452,461,072 Miller Feb. 8, 1949 2,470,251 Kolbert May 17, 1949

